


Mating Habits

by YourFavoriteRobot



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-17
Updated: 2011-09-17
Packaged: 2017-10-23 19:43:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/254150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourFavoriteRobot/pseuds/YourFavoriteRobot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Survival as a Five serial. The Doctor ends up infected and stranded with the Master.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mating Habits

**Author's Note:**

> For Pride1289 who wanted kittens but got this. Thanks to Janeturenne for beta.

He remembered--vaguely, because remembering much of anything from very far back was all but impossible these days--that things used to be much more complicated. As it was now, for the Master, life was perfect. The Master was, even in his current state, a creature not easily satisfied, but as things were, he had all that his heart could desire.

The Master’s rule was unchallenged. No creature that wandered his land could claim a fraction of his intellect or strength. His kingdom stretched as far as he could walk in a day and farther again by half. The land was healthy and it fed him well. Meadows, forests and streams, all lush and beautiful, and in existence solely for his pleasure.

At the heart of his kingdom sat a wonder, the big-small blue cave, nestled amongst a small grove of trees. More than a home, the cave cared for him. When he wandered too far it seemed to call to him. When the hunt was poor the mother-home had food always. When he was injured or unwell, resting a night within its strange white unending chambers healed him and left him renewed.

His kingdom and home pleased the Master greatly, but the thing which he treasured most dearly was his mate. In a time when they had names he would have called him Doctor. Now there was only the two of them and the need for such things as names had faded into the past like so many other pointless complications. The fever blood that ran through them both kept them fixed in the present and tied to each other.

This other creature, the Master’s mate, the Doctor, the only thing in the Master’s kingdom that could be his equal, was the focus of the Master’s life, and nothing brought him more joy than caring for his mate and seeing that he was as content as the Master. This seemed to the Master like something that had always been, a basic truth of nature. The sun rose and the night fell and he was bound eternally to the Doctor.

 

Like the Master himself the Doctor was intelligent, forever fiddling with bits of stone, wood and bone and making small trinkets for himself, watching other animals--not to hunt--but simply to observe the way that they lived, and looking up at the tiny lights that speckled the night sky, with wonder and something like longing. Like the Master he was strong and fast, with large hands tipped with sharp claws and pronounced fangs that hinted over his bottom lip, but the Doctor was leaner and paler and the spots that pattered his skin were a light brown to the Master’s near black ones.

The Doctor liked to spend his time exploring. Every day he would set out for some part of the Master’s kingdom he had yet to see, take himself out past the ambit of the land they knew to find new sights and territory. Whenever he encountered some wonder he would run back to the Master’s side and lead him out so they might claim it as theirs.  
The Doctor’s latest expedition had gained them a most beautiful pool of clean, clear water. It was a tiny lake with a small waterfall that poured steadily out from above an large sheer rock face. Thick trees filled with bright flowers and bird song encircled it, isolating it from the rest of the world. The Doctor beamed with pride when he presented his find to the Master, who padded over to him and nuzzled his cheek and neck, purring his pleasure at him.

Satisfied with the Master’s praise, the Doctor was fast to splash into the water. The Master watched him from the shore and, for a moment, panicked when his mate disappeared beneath the surface. He walked cautiously to the edge of the water and peered down at the distorted shape moving within. Suddenly, it rushed up and broke the surface, throwing water everywhere, soaking the Master.

The Doctor gave a barking laugh, but not for long as the Master pounced and submerged them both, kicking another burst of water into the air and sending a flock of birds out of the trees in fright. The two wrestled around in the lake, playfully trying to shove the other underwater, only to have their legs knocked out from under them and the roles reversed again and again.

The Doctor broke away for the shore and the Master splashed after him. Pouncing again, the Master pinned him to the ground. The Doctor struggled and snapped at him, trying to break free, swiping wildly with his claws and leaving little red lines on the Master’s forearms. The Master held him fast and fixed his teeth on the Doctor’s neck, biting down firmly without breaking skin., The Doctor hissed and growled but with every breath he calmed by degrees. The Master gave a shake to the Doctor’s neck, and he relaxed and began to purr.

The Master released the Doctor’s neck and licked at the red mark left where he had held him. He nuzzled the Doctor’s neck and chest and lapped at his spotted skin, showing that he meant no harm, that all he wanted was this.

The Master could smell the Doctor’s growing arousal, taste the sweat under the clean lake water on his skin. It filled up his senses and made his head swim, made the world narrow and focus until the Doctor was the only thing in it.

The Doctor arched his hips up, making his needs known to his mate. The Master churred and ground his hips down in answer, the motion drawing a long low keen from the Doctor. He moved down the Doctor’s body, letting out a low growling purr with every expulsion of breath. The Master burried his nose in the thatch of fur between the Doctor’s legs, deeply inhaling the sent of his mate and rubbing his cheek against the Doctor’s erection. The Doctor sunk his claws into the Master’s shoulder, but in this state he could feel little pain. He ran his tongue up the Doctor’s cock, bathing it in long loving licks and little flicks of his tongue.

The Doctor cried out beneath him and raised his hips, demanding more. The Master grasped his mate’s hips and shoved them back down, pinning him to ground. The Doctor sunk his claws deeper into the Master’s shoulders and he lifted his head to growl in warning. The Doctor hissed and struggled, and the Master moved up the Doctor’s body to cease his neck again and force him to submit.

The Doctor was able to roll out from under the Master’s hold but the Master leaped on him again in an instant. The pair rolled around, kicking up clumps of moss and earth in their scuffle, until Doctor had the Master pinned, face up, his jaws latched onto his shoulder, claws curled into the Doctors arms.

The Doctor rubbed himself earnestly against the Master’s thighs, eyes closed and panting heavily. The Master felt the grip on his arms slacken and reached up to pull the Doctor flush against him, pressing his own erection against the soft skin of the Doctor’s stomach. The pair rocked their bodies against each other, alternately nuzzling and nipping at whatever skin they could reach, until the Doctor came hard, shuddering and calling out and whimpering wordlessly. The Master followed close behind him.

Exhausted, the pair curled up together on the mossy forest floor and drifted off to sleep.

~~~

A sudden noise awoke the Master, and as he opened his eyes he saw the Doctor sitting up, eyes wide and alert. He too had just been startled awake. The sound roared again through the trees and the ground trembled under them. The Master looked to the Doctor and saw the fear in his eyes, a match for his own. At once, they bolted for their home.

The angry growling sound that pursued them was steadily advancing. The trees shook around them and other animals fled in fear to their burrows and nests. Still, the Doctor and Master ran, keeping pace, but tiring from their sprint. The pair were built for short burst of speed, not this sort of prolonged chase, and they were far from the safety of their home. The Master couldn’t think, couldn’t plan; all that raced through his mind was the desperate need to get away from the threat.

The Master and Doctor broke out of the trees into the grassy plains. The sound on their heels came charging after in a burst of leaves and splintering wood. The Master spared a glanced behind and saw something he didn’t understand. It was no animal, nothing he could even describe. It beamed a light as bright as the sun at him. Some long-buried part of his mind supplied the word ‘vehicle,’ but knowing the monster’s name did nothing to put them farther away from it.

The increasing fear let him helped him to put on more speed, but his body would only give so much. Suddenly the monster called out at them, its crackly unnatural voice loud enough to hurt the Masters ears. “Stop! We are from the medical ship Nightingale! We mean you no harm!”

The Master did not slow but as he turned back he saw the Doctor hesitate a moment. It was a moment too long, and the Master could only watch in horror as the monster overtook the Doctor, scoped him up and started in the other direction. At once the Master dashed after it, finding a speed that his aching, tired body could not have even managed for his own escape. The thing had the Doctor, his mate, the only other in his world. He could not let it take him away.

He ran, pushing himself harder and faster, his lungs burning and his stomach sick from exhaustion, but the monster rolled effortlessly on and farther away from him. Still, he kept moving until his legs felt dead. No matter how much he willed them they would not move another step, and at last he had to submit. He could press on no farther. The Master watched helplessly as monster faded away into the trees, taking the Doctor from him. The Master laid down and whimpered into his paws until the Doctor was out of sight, and soon exhaustion pushed him down into sleep.

~~~

The Master awoke at the first hint of light and immediately began tracking his mate. The task was not difficult. The monster that had taken him left a clear path of damage that the Master was able to follow. After a few hours of walking he found a strange object sitting in the middle of a field that had not been there before. It was rounded and smooth, looking something like an egg, but something about it also reminded him of the inside of his home, the big-small cave full of odd wonders. But this thing felt different. It did not make him calm or happy as his home did. It did not invite him warmly, but stood cold and challenging in his territory.

He padded a circuit around the big egg, keeping his distance but watching it closely. Some part of it stretched and extended, and he hunkered down in to the tall grass and watched as a monster like the one that had taken the Doctor was expelled from the limb it extended.

The Master took off at once. The Doctor had to be inside, so inside was where he had to be. He raced towards the appendage and leaped upon it as it was begging to retract. Running up, he found himself a huge bright cave filled with monsters like the one he had just seen. He looked around in fright, but realised after a moment that none of them were moving. They did not even breathe as though they slept, but lay just as still as rocks. What did move were two creatures running away on two legs.

The Master looked around for a moment and then, under the sharp, stinging unnatural smell that pervaded the chamber, he scented the Doctor. He started after him, approaching the door the other creatures had exited through. It slid open before him. He stepped through, sniffing the air, and dashed down a corridor in pursuit of the Doctor. It wasn’t long before the lights in the cave flashed and a disembodied voice came from all around him shouting, “Quarantine breach, quarantine breach, return to secured areas.”

Nothing came of the shouting. No one was raised to attack at the call. In fact, whenever the Master encounter another of the creatures that wandered the halls, they immediately ducked out of sight when they spotted him.

He was able to track the Doctor’s scent to a door that would not open for him as the others did. He scratched at it fruitlessly, hardly marking the slick surface. He stalked in front of the barrier, growling and chirping at it with little result. Then he heard the sound of footsteps beating a steady path towards him. More of the creatures that had run before, only know they cared large objects in their hands that seemed to make them bolder.

Forced to abandon the Doctor’s trail, the Master now ran through the corridors from his pursuers. Every time he turned a corner more seemed to appear. Panic welled up in him. The voice that came from the walls shouted again at regular intervals as though to call more and more people to chase him. He feared he would never see the Doctor or his kingdom ever again.

He came to a sudden halt and stared, unbelieving, at the sight before him. It was the Doctor. The Master could only just recognize him. He stood straight up and his body was almost completely hidden under coverings. His eyes were a dark blue now and his hair fell smooth and neat against his head. Worst of all he smelled wrong, similar but weak and deluded, covered with something chemical and floral. Everything about him now seemed made to disguise what he was. The Master whimpered at the maybe-Doctor, confusion and fear mixing together. The Doctor opened his arms, welcoming the Master, and with the men chasing him he had little other choice. The Master rushed into the Doctor’s arms and sighed with relief when they closed around him protectively.

“Shh, Master. You are going to be all right.” The Doctor spoke gently. The Master felt a sharp little pinch on his arm, and slumped against the Doctor as everything faded to black.

~~~

The Master awoke slowly. The first thing to fill up his consciousness was a horrible soreness in all his muscles. The pain wasn’t overwhelming, but it was hard to ignore. It only became more so when he tried to force himself to sit up.

He found himself in a white, dull, sterile room, much like any other medical facility he had ever seen. He was alone, and there were no windows to give him a clue to where he might be. Once he’d regained a little more strength he shifted himself over to try and reach a computer terminal near his bedside. The motion tugged at the IV stuck into his arm and caused him a good measure of pain before he pulled the thing out of him. Free of the tether he was able to reach out and call up his file. Before he could read a word of it a door slid open and a woman in a lab coat and tan jumpsuit walked in. Her eyes landed squarely on the Master.

He immediately looked around for anything that he could use as a weapon should things turn sour. He found nothing, but the woman approached him in a non threatening manner and he hoped that he would be able to converse his way out of any danger.

“Mr. Smith?” the woman asked him. The Master thought it best to assume the identity of whoever they believed him to be. They had, after all cared for him, and as far as he could tell done him no harm.

“Yes.” He tried his voice. It was dry and came out in a rasping whisper. The woman poured and offered him a glass of water from the bedside. The Master took it, sniffed it tentatively and took a drink.

“I’m pleased to be able to inform you that you are going to make a complete recovery.”

“Excellent.” He couldn’t remember what it was that he was supposed to have recovered from, but a clean bill of health was certainly good news. He took another drink.

“Your husband is also doing very well and will be wanting to see you if you are feeling well enough.” The Master chocked on the water and coughed about half of it down the front of his hospital gown.

“I’m sorry.” She blinked, “Dr. John Smith is your partner, isn’t he? That was what he indicated as your relationship when you were registered here.”

That triggered something in his mind. Suddenly huge chucks of memory came surging back. All the time on the planet, living together, hunting together, _mating_ for-- he calculated sunrises and sets into days and the passing of seasons-- years, three years. It couldn’t be, and yet it plainly was.

The woman stared at him, anxious but allowing him time to sort himself out. She seemed accustomed to this sort of reaction.

“Yes, of course,” the Master responded after a time, still trying to come to grips with what had happen. “I would like to see him as well.”

The woman nodded and smiled rather sweetly, making her look much younger than before. “He was incoherent when we brought him in, as most cases advanced as yours are, but when he did manage speech, all he did was beg to be taken back to his mate. It’s rare that those affected can maintain their relationship through the transformation. You must be very dear to each other.”

The Master nodded mutely, uncertain how to respond to such a claim. With a few pleasantries the woman, who identified herself as a nurse, exited the room, leaving the Master alone with his thoughts. Of course the Doctor was dear to him, the Doctor was the driving force of his very existence. He made no denials of that. All he desired was the Doctor, power, and to share the second with the first.

But the Doctor was fickle. His interests peaked and faded, often in the span of a night, and the Master never dreamed the Doctor would under any circumstance feel the same connection that he felt between them. Or if he did, would ever resolve himself to act on it or voice it.

The Master couldn’t dare to hope to keep his attention by any conventional means. So they spend centuries in fighting, but never out of malice. For every time the Master wished him dead, it was only in anger at the Doctor for not being at his side. For all the damage he caused, it was always with the express hope that the Doctor might turn up to thwart him. The Master knew that while simple affection would never hold the Doctor, traps and plots would at least assure that he always returned.

The Master wondered, just briefly, if he might have been happier to remain on the planet as they had been. No, that was foolish. Just the thought that he would give up his mental faculties for what, some savage form of domesticity? For some delusion of contentment? For the Doctor When the Master thought of all that he had done for the Doctor’s simple attention, it seamed more likely than he wished to admit, even to himself.

The Master laid back against the pillows and waited, dreading and longing for the Doctor to appear in the doorway. He was just beginning to nod off, the day’s exhaustion getting the better of him, when the Doctor entered the room. He looked well, standing there in borrowed shirt and trousers. The Doctor was further along in his recovery than the Master was himself, just as the nurse had informed him, but his face was unreadable. Could the Master dare to hope that the Doctor thought of any of this as more that a grand indignity? There was only one way to find out. The Master drew up his strength and tried his best to look awake and insouciant.

“Doctor.”

“Master.”

Each acknowledged the other, and the Master could imagine them cautiously circling each other, were he not too exhausted to stand. The Master looked up at the Doctor, neat and clean as he ever was before their time on the planet. He felt a pang of longing for the version of the Doctor who would have happily curled up in his lap instead of sitting on the very edge of the bed, close but consciously not touching him, and never quite meeting his eyes.

“Where are we?” the Master finally asked, as the Doctor seem disinclined to begin.

“A medical ship, somewhere in the 62th century, humanian era. In good hands, as far as I can tell.”

“What happened?” the Master asked.

“They treated us for the virus,” the Doctor answered simply.

“I had gathered that much from the lack of claws and the return of my ability to reason.”

“Ah, right.”

“Perhaps if you were to begin at the beginning.”

“And when I come to the end stop?” the Doctor grinned, but deflated when the Master gave no sign of understanding the joke.

The Doctor took a deep breath, organising his thoughts, still not looking at the Master. “I found you, as ever, involved in some ridiculous scheme with the people of the, rather unimaginatively named, Cheetah Planet. You had contracted the virus that transformed all the people of that world in to humanoid-felines but because of your unique biology, as with mine, the physical changes where only able to partially manifest.”

“While attempting to free the indigenous people from your control I also contracted the virus and began to transform. I managed to get my friends somewhere safe and us into the TARDIS and attempted to take us to this very medical facility, but the virus had taken over my mind before I could finish the programming and we ended up on the planet below."

“I see.” the Master said, trying to grasp at any recollection of these events but only coming up with vague scraps of memory. “Thank you, Doctor,” the Master added, more to make him speak again then out of any overwhelming sense of gratitude. He had missed the sound of the Doctor’s voice more than he knew and wanted to hear it again.

“I...well. I did what I thought was best. I could hardly leave you to torment the people of that world.”

“Of course,”

“Yes.”

And they were again stifled beneath an uncomfortable silence, each feeling the subject that loomed overhead but nether daring to acknowledge it.

The Doctor stared off at the door and the Master examined his own hands, their gazes flitting to the other every so often. Finally they met and nether could look away. The Master was surprised to see that despite the change of colour, none of the affection had faded from the Doctor’s eye. The Doctor’s fingers twitched as he watched the Master expectantly.

“It’s quite strange,” he began distantly, trying not to seem too hopeful, “the staff of this facility seem to be under the impression that I am your husband.”

The Doctor sucked in a quick breath and straightened his posture, looking horribly guilty. “Ah. Yes. I was, well, confused when they found me. Hardly capable of speech.”

“And yet you managed to tell them that.”

“They asked me questions, I answered them to the best on my knowledge at the time. We were, um, rather close at during our time on the planet. I was still suffering from the effects of the virus and completely confused.”

“Then I’m quite surprised you had the faculties to give your preferred pseudonym.”

“I didn’t. Once I had recovered I gave them a name. It would have been, well, complicated to correct them on other points.”

“Thus I become, Mr. Smith. Devoted husband.”

“Yes, well, I’m sorry if it inconvenienced you. We’ll be able to leave soon and you can forget all about it.”

“We?” the Master asked quietly.

“Oh. Well, I mean you can leave...actually, no. Er, you see, my TARDIS. Yes. My TARDIS was recovered from the planet, but yours is still where ever you left her. Once we have located her you can, well...” He looked so impossibly flustered at this point the Master began to pity him. “You can do whatever you wish.”

“Whatever I wish?”

“I expect you’ll have some planet or other you would like to conquer.”

“And you, of course, will be along shortly after to wrench it from my grasp.”

“Naturally.” The Doctor closed his eyes and then said, almost to fast to be understood, “Wecouldpossiblysavetimeandgotogether.” Then, before the Master could speak, the Doctor began to backtrack and babble defensively. “Not that, well, this is probably completely mad. The time we spent on the planet, we were not ourselves at all, it didn’t really mean anything. This is all probably just lingering symptoms of the virus affecting our minds that will simply dissipate once we are more fully recovered but,” the Doctor took a breath, “until then, the offer stands.”

“No.” The Doctor looked shocked and thoroughly wounded. He pulled away but the Master put a hand over the Doctor’s, keeping him at his side. “You are wrong, my dear. It seams clear to me that stripped of inhibition and complication our natural state is one of partnership. We could have fought, killed each other like the savage things that we were, but we did not. We were happy mated and never thought of living any other way. It would be completely mad of us to do anything but remain together.”

The Doctor have a little burst of laughter and shook his head. “It might be a bit more complicated than that, Master.”

“Perhaps. Only if you choose to make it so.” The Master pulled the Doctor down to kiss him and the Doctor fell into the act immediately, like instinct.

“Right then.” The Doctor pulled away with large smile on his face, looking optimistic. “I am actually rather eager to attempt certain activities while in full possession of my faculties. I can only imagine that it would make things more enjoyable.”

“Indeed,” the Master raised an eyebrow and glanced at the door, “a pity that you no longer have that little screwdriver of yours to secure the door.” The Doctor looked over his shoulder and considered for a moment. His air was a good deal bolder as he stood and walked over to the door, he looked at it for a moment, hmm’d, and then yanked the opening mechanism’s face panel from the wall and twisted a hand full of wires.

“That was rather inelegant.” The Master smiled, somewhat impressed.

“Yes, but effective. I suppose there is something to be said for a touch of savagery now and then.” The Doctor returned to the Master, stripping off his clothing and crawling into bed with him. ”Now, where were we?”

~~~

It’s said that one never recovers in full from the cheetah virus. A sufferer, even once restored to his proper state, will always carry something of the planet and its people inside them. The attending nurse came to agree with this common convention when the hospital ship’s technicians were able to repair the broken door in section beta-9 and she found Doctor and Mister Smith curled up in a tangle of sheets and discarded clothing, like a pair of napping kittens.


End file.
